More negative press for Mormons and Muslims

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Once again, Mormons and Muslims have been lumped together in the "unpopular" category."I think Mitt Romney is a nice man, but I'm afraid of his Mormon faith," Georgia legislator Judy Manning told the Marietta Daily Journal last week. But, she added, "It's better than a Muslim."After Manning's comments about Mormons were widely circulated and soundly condemned as bigoted, Manning posted an apology on her Facebook page."I have made a terrible mistake," the Republican lawmaker wrote, "with my reckless words."Manning is not alone in her low opinion of Mormons and Muslims. Several recent surveys show the two faiths at the bottom of Americans' favorability scale."Mormons still face a level of religious bigotry in the United States," wrote Laurie Goodstein last summer in The New York Times, "equal only to that faced by Muslims."Maybe Muslims are respected even less than the Utah-based faith. After all, Manning offered no such contrition for her verbal assault on Muslim beliefs.Peggy Fletcher Stack

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